Questions About Sportsman Sequence
 

I'm a beginning pattern flier and I have some questions about the maneuvers. I have been to the NSRCA site and studied the information there including the descriptions of the maneuvers.

#2 Straight Flight Out (U)
Does it begin immediatly after Takeoff, or is there an unscored turnaround and trimming pass with another unscored turnaround before renetering the box and beginning #2?

Regarding maneuver #5 (Immelmann Turn) going into maneuver #6 (45* Downline)
How much of a pause is necessary before beginning the 45* downline? Is the S&L part of that maneuver immediate after the roll to upright, or is there a distance after I call the Immelmann finished?
Does the center of the downline need to be centered on the judges?

Those are the first 2 of what will likely be many more questions to come as I begin to learn the sequence. Unfrotunately there are no competitive pattern flies in my club (at least that I know about) that can help me learn this sequence.

Thanks for any help you can offer
Bill

Bill,

All great questions. You will find the answers to your questions on the NSRCA "sequences" page.

Also, check out the article "Max Points in Sportsman" on Don Ramsey's pattern site

Here is a YouTube video of the AMA Sportsman being flown.

Welcome to pattern Bill,
I'll start from the beginning and hopefully it will make sense how to get started. Takeoff is it's own seperate maneuver. Not connected to any other maneuver. So to start your sequence in front of judges your helper will place the plane center line for takeoff. You call take off beginning now and execute your takeoff. Call takeoff complete at 6 meters high. Now you are free to execute a 180 turn back downwind which can be your trim pass. Next is a free turnaround to set you up for your first pass, usually a 1/2 reverse cuban 8 or 1/2 cuban 8 or whatever make you comfortable. Enter the box and call Box or in the box and start maneuver #2. No need to call your maneuvers until landing. Call landing at 6 meters high on approach. That's when judging starts. Study the maneuver descriptions and downgrades. Hope this helps !!

Thanks Maustin. That’s the information I was looking for.

Thanks rcprecision. That was quite helpful as well. I could see now that the 45* down line starts immediately after the 1/2 immelmann..

GorillaToast,

One of the fundamental elements of AMA pattern is demonstrating straight and level flight before entering and when exiting airborne maneuvers. So that being the case, after the Immelmann 1/2 roll straight and level flight for approximately 15-meters should be demonstrated, followed by another 15-meter straight and level flight before the 45 downline radius begins.

Here's a snippet from the rule book which explains.

E. Description of Maneuvers
All maneuvers will start and finish in straight and level flight. Maneuver entries
and exits which are preceded or followed by unscored turnarounds will be at least
15 meters in length. Center maneuvers will have the same altitude and heading for
entry and exit unless otherwise noted. Scored turnarounds will finish on a track
180 degrees from the entry. In general, turnaround maneuvers are positioning
maneuvers. Therefore, entry and exit altitude need not be the same if the
contestant is making an altitude correction.

so with a 30M straight and level line that would put the 45 degree down line finishing at the end of the box? At my field I will have to fly considerably farther out from the runway to achieve that. Thanks for the clarification.

Remember that there is no length requirement on the 45 down line. So adjust your entry and exit points to achieve a nice presentation to the maneuver. The minimum line length on approach can be extended if needed. Use throttle to slow the approach and decent. This will allow you to manage distance more effectively. Try and fly out around 150 meters.

I wish I could fly at 150 m out. Unfortunately at our field there is a Creek with woods along it at about 100 m and 100 m more is a big dam with walkers on it. Also right now I’m flying a foal me with a 50” wingspan. Hard to see its attitude that more than 100 m out.

You might find this of interest to you.

Actually, I've had that book for several months now. Great information, but it didn't answer the questions I had so I thought I'd ask the competitive fliers.

This is on the NSRCA Website under [Sequences] and the [Power Point Presentations]. It should answer a lot of your questions for the maneuver and downgrades.

Sportsman Power Point Presentation